March 17 Updates
National
Trump invoked the wartime “Alien Enemies Act of 1798” to deport five Venezuelan nationals from the US, but his order was blocked by a judge
Civil liberties organizations accused Trump of invoking the 1798 act unlawfully during peacetime to accelerate mass deportations and sidestep immigration law.
US district judge James Boasberg of the federal district court in Washington DC issued a temporary restraining order that prevents the deportation for another 14 days
Read more from the Guardian here
Senator Durbin (along with 9 other Senate Dems) unfortunately voted with Republicans to pass the stopgap bill for the 2025 budget.
Many important bills are coming up for a vote in the house and senate:
HR 32: No bailout for Sanctuary Cities Act
Make sure to contact your representatives to express how important this bill is to you
More info in articles from Raise the Floor Alliance and Immigration Impact
Would codify protections for sensitive locations (churches, hospitals, schools) against immigration enforcement
Sen Duckworth and Sen Durbin are already co-sponsors of this bill – please let your friends from other states know how important this is.
As for the House, Rep. Sorensen (17th District) and Rep Budzinski (13th District) here in IL are the Congresspeople we need to target to get their support.
Please see this very helpful GUIDE from the Latino Policy Forum on who to call, what to say, and summaries of each bill.
ICE arrested a graduate student at Columbia on 3/8/25 named Mahmoud Khalil. The administration has doubled down on labeling him a terrorist and he is still detained.
Listen to his wife, Noor, speak about the incident on NPR Here
Two other students of Columbia involved in the protests have been apprehended by ICE. Leqaa Kordia of Palestine was accused of overstaying her F-1 student visa (she is being detained by ICE currently) and Ranjani Srinivasan of India had her student visa revoked for participating “in activities supporting Hammas”, a misspelling of the Palestinian armed group Hamas
Sign this petition to tell Columbia to stop working with ICE!
Illinois
Find your representatives in IL here
Bills coming up in the state legislature need our support:
SB1857 / HB3400 - restoration of the VTTC program to its original eligibility criteria, once again allowing survivors:
who are preparing to apply to file an application for immigration status, to receive funds to pay for food and essential items during this vulnerable time period.
who fled to the U.S. alone (i.e.., the vast majority of human trafficking survivors were forced to flee their country without their family) to be eligible for the program again.
See fact sheet here
Please email andreakovach@povertylaw.org to have your organization sign on to a letter of support for the bill organized by the Poverty Law Center, or to get more information.
Sign on as co-sponsors of the bill here
MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund) helped write these bills
would prevent schools from disclosing information about a child’s immigration status or working with ICE agents
SB 2033 - Immigration Safe Zones Act
Presented by State Senator Villanueva (of Little Village) and Cristina Castro (of Elgin) – contact them for how advocates can help in pushing this bill forward